Founded in Ottawa in 1979, Mexicali Rosa's (Mexi's) is a restaurant that serves "California Style Mexican Food". Mexi's has two locations in New Brunswick: Moncton and now Quispamsis (opened February 2022). We decided to go to the Quispamsis location as soon as we heard that they were open. Both locations will be divided in this blog entry like I've been doing with other restaurants with multiple locations.
Mexicali Rosa's Quispamsis (KV Mexi's)
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| KV Mexi's Carne Nachos (round II) - April 2023 |
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| KV Mexi's Carne (Burnt) Nachos - April 2023 |
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Kv Mexi's Carne Nachos - April 2023
 | Kv Mexi's Carne Nachos - April 2023
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 | Kv Mexi's Carne Nachos - April 2023
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| KV Mexi's Carne (beef) Nachos - October 2022 |
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| KV Mexi's Chicken Wing Nachos - June 2022 |
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| KV Mexi's Veggie Nachos - March 2022 |
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| KV Mexi's Veggie Nachos - March 2022 |
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| KV Mexi's Carne (beef) Nachos - February 2022 |
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| KV Mexi's Carne (beef) Nachos - February 2022 |
Distribution of Toppings
These single-layer nachos had beef and cheese on every chip. Of course with just the one layer of chips, it is not hard to have good distribution of toppings. The same thing applies to the veggie nachos and the chicken wing nachos.
Quality
Each large, crispy chip had plenty of spicy beef - every bite was an explosion of flavor! I thought the beef had just the right amount of kick to it, and was nice and juicy. If I were to convert it to the chicken wing sauce hotness scale, I would say it was a "medium" spice. These nachos do come with sauce on them, and I usually do not like having sauce on the chips, but these chips were not drenched in the sauce - you get a nice drizzle of it. They did well in terms of the toast factor; however, there could have been a little more cheese on the chips. I recommend ordering extra cheese on these nachos if you are looking for a really cheesy experience.
The veggie nachos had so much variety of veggies where every bite was an epic mountain of flavour.
The experience of the Chicken Wing Nachos might have been biased because we watched the Seadogs win the Memorial Cup while eating these. How can you say you had bad nachos while seeing your local hockey team win the cup? I'll have to have them again when I am not so distracted!
The last time we visited KV Mexi's in April 2023, they served us burnt nachos that we had to send back because we were afraid of getting sick from them. The second plate they sent was better, but still slightly over-cooked.
Value
The Carne Nachos are $24.99 and they come with a salsa and a sour cream. You can get two salsas or two sour creams if you want to swap it up and it would be the same price. To add guacamole, it is $1.99 extra. For an extra salsa, it is $.99 extra. For an extra sour cream, it is $1.49 extra. There are other plates of nachos you can order: Mexicali Nachos, Veggie, Con Pollo, Chicken Wing and Chipotle Chicken Supreme. This is pretty expensive for a single layer nacho, and normally they make up for it in exceptional quality, but when we were served a plate of burnt nachos it really made me question the value equation. We will return soon for these nachos and will keep the entry up to date according to our experiences.
Quantity
We shared the nachos as a meal and we were satisfied afterwards.
Conclusion
This is hard because I have had some great plates of nachos from KV Mexi's in 2023, and they were clearly having a very "off" night when we visited at the end of April. However, I have to keep the blog up to date and go experience by experience. I have to drop the rating because the second plate they served us that night still had over-cooked nachos. We will go back again soon - for research purposes!
Nacho Blog Rating B+
Mexicali Rosa's Moncton
We went to the Moncton location in 2018 and had to make another visit in 2021 in order to be updated on Mexicali Rosa's nacho experience. We ended up having two plates of nachos (Con Pollo & Chipotle Chicken) and left very happy and satisfied. Let's see what we had to say!
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| Mexi's Chipotle Chicken Nachos - August 2021 |
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| Mexi's Chipotle Chicken Nachos - August 2021 |
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| Mexi's Con Pollo Nachos - August 2021 |
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| Mexi's Con Pollo Nachos - August 2021 |
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| Mexi's Gringo Nachos - October 2018 |
Distribution of Toppings
Regarding the Con Pollo nachos, there could have been more toppings on the outside chips. That being said, for both plates there was something for every chip. Until the very last bite my mouth took in a whole bunch of flavors and I was very happy with the overall distribution of toppings. However, it was hard not to have a good distribution of toppings with the nachos having only one layer. I made the same argument for
Peddlers Creek.
Quality
I found the Con Pollo nachos to be a little bland in flavor. That could be expected when you are ordering nachos with mostly chicken and cheese and then you order another plate which would seem like the "works" of nachos. I was really interested in the Con Pollo Nachos because the owner of
Costa Nachos said that she got her inspiration from these nachos. The Mexi's Chipotle Chicken Nachos had everything you could need in a nacho. It had the bacon and honey chipotle sauce which I enjoyed (despite not really being a sauce lover) and I appreciated how the sauce did not make the chips soggy. I also enjoyed how the Chipotle Chicken Nachos had more veggies and just a big mouthful of flavor.
Value
The Con Pollo Nachos are $20 and the Chipotle Chicken Nachos are $22. These plates come with a salsa or a sour cream. I think the quality is pretty good; however, for a smaller amount of chips than usual, the price needs to be a little lower in order to be considered a good value.
Quantity
I think that one plate is good for one person for a meal. I was pretty full by the time we got to the second plate which was the Chipotle Nachos.
Conclusion
Mexicali Rosa's is a very fun place to go. It has a good atmosphere, you get delicious tortilla chips offered as a free appetizer, great margaritas and good quality nachos. While the quality sets Mexi's apart from the competition in Moncton, I think they should add more chips to increase the quantity rating as well as the value. I still stand by the same rating I gave them back in 2018 so this means they are consistent!
Nacho Blog Rating: A-
